No Images? Click here RNA Extra: September 2019 #RNA2019 countdown is on!Next week, more than 225 religion reporters, experts and advocates will gather at the Westgate Resort in Las Vegas for RNA's 70th Annual Conference. The conference committee has put together an extraordinary program that will fill reporter notebooks with story ideas and sources to last the year ahead. If you can't join us in Vegas, we hope you'll follow the action via our social media channels.
We want to extend a special thanks to our lead conference sponsors, Religion News Foundation and The Fetzer Institute. See you in Vegas! Letter from RNA President Peter SmithDear RNA members, Consider this your pre-boarding welcome as you make your way to Las Vegas for the Religion News Association’s annual conference, where we’ll mark our 70th year as the premier organization for journalists who cover religion — 70 years at the soul of the news. You will see the fruits of the hard work of our conference committee and staff as you look over the list of panel topics — and the excellent roster of moderators and panelists, many from our own membership and many others from the sources we’ve cultivated. We’ll be taking full advantage of our location. We’ll learn about ministry in Sin City as well as other vanguard issues in the Western U.S., such as legalized marijuana. (Kudos to whoever titled the panel “High church.”) We’re also covering everything from immigration to religious scandals and whistleblowers to the threat of violence in houses of worship. These topics only reinforce the point that religion news these days is … the news, period.
Which brings me to my next point: We’ll be closing our conference with our annual awards banquet, where we’ll be honoring a remarkable slate of work across multiple media formats. Many of you are on that list of finalists in the various contest categories. It reminds me of how well we support each other as RNA members — yet how we also sharpen each other’s skills as we compete head-to-head. Your work has proven again and again that we are in a Platinum Age of Religion Journalism (trademark pending). I’ve been blessed to have been on this beat for a few dog years, and I have known some legendary reporters and seen some great religion journalism. But your work today is collectively as outstanding as has ever been produced by our guild. We can also look forward to honoring Cathy Lynn Grossman — the legendary former religion writer for USA Today and Religion News Service, a longtime dedicated RNA volunteer (and one of my personal role models as a fellow Gannett alum — with the William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award.
As RNA continues to equip, challenge and cheer you on in your vital work, we’re also looking at some transitions that we’ll discuss further in Las Vegas. Members of the boards and staffs of RNA and Religion News Foundation (RNF) met for a retreat in May. Betsy Shirley, Jeff Diamant and I all found the discussions to be candid, fruitful and marked by a commitment to work together in the future. Among other issues, we discussed funding and board structures. RNA created RNF about 20 years ago as its supporting organization, and RNF also owns and operates Religion News Service. You heard earlier this year about the major Lilly Endowment grant that is funding an expansion of religion journalism through RNS, the AP and The Conversation. Even with that welcome news, RNF is seeing its baseline grant funding dramatically trimmed. As a long-term way of expanding and diversifying its funding sources, RNF now seeks to constitute its board to consist of high-net-worth individuals who will be committed to giving and/or raising substantial funds. What emerged from the retreat was the creation of a Task Force that has examined these and other issues and potential solutions. The Task Force includes, from RNA, Betsy Shirley, Jeff Diamant and me, and from RNF, Judy Golub and Tom Levinson. We’ve worked hard over the summer and developed a strong working relationship. Among the proposals we’re looking at: In the short-term, RNF would propose candidates for its board that would meet its criteria, and the RNA board would vet and strongly consider these nominees. In the longer term, RNF may seek a different tax status that would enable it to have a self-perpetuating board and would no longer have RNA appointing board members as its supported organization. At that point, a memorandum of understanding would be created to define RNF’s working relationship with and financial support of RNA. As a related yet distinct matter that emerged from these discussions, RNA is considering a conversion from a 501c6 (trade association) status to a 501c3 (charitable) status. This gets a little technical, but please bear with me. A c6 can’t receive tax-deductible donations. What it can do are things we don’t typically do anyway, such as lobby. Some other journalism organizations have c6 status, while many are c3s. A key benefit of being a c3 is we can receive charitable donations directly — particularly from RNF, but also from others. (RNF, even as our supporting organization, currently can support some of our activities but cannot provide direct donations toward such things as salaries due to our c6 status.) We are reviewing this carefully with RNA’s legal counsel, but it appears that as a c3, we can have what we’ve always highly valued, including conference, contests and journalist-member governance. To seek c3 status, we would need your approval for bylaw changes. We won’t vote on this measure in Las Vegas but we will discuss it in more detail at the member meeting on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 4:10 p.m. An online vote will follow at a later date. These leave many major issues to be worked out, and we are not there yet, but Task Force members plan to continue the extensive discussions that took place all summer. At the May retreat, RNF board members strongly emphasized their desire to continue supporting RNA. The RNA Board has discussed many of these proposed changes and, while we have much yet to discuss and are asking good questions, we are looking at them receptively.
Partings It was with great regret that I received Tiffany McCallen’s notice that she will be leaving her position as chief operating officer of RNA in the coming months. Tiffany has served in so many vital roles for RNA, Religion News Foundation and Religion News Service since 2000. She has tirelessly done the upfront promotional work and the behind-the-scenes grunt work to make our conferences, contests and RNA board work run smoothly, and her dedication to our mission is unparalleled. I have never been to an RNA conference (or practically any other RNA activity) without her being present, and while we will have to plan for a future without her, our gratitude and admiration for her will remain. —— Even as we have important business to discuss in Vegas, I hope you take full advantage of our conference: Take in all the great and informative programming, catch up with old colleagues, meet new ones, absorb the unique sights of Las Vegas and prepare to honor your colleagues’ best work. Sincerely, Peter Smith, RNA Board President
Happy 70th birthday, RNA!In honor of its 70th birthday, RNA is launching a $70-for-70 campaign to raise at least 70 donations of $70, $700 or $7,000 to the RNA Conference Scholarship fund. Requests for scholarships to attend RNA’s Annual Conference have increased over the years as newsrooms have slashed professional development budgets and layoffs have forced more religion reporters into the freelance market. And yet the need for training on the religion beat is arguably greater than ever as faith-based headlines dominate the news and reporters are tasked with covering multiple beats. We ask applicants to our scholarship program each year to answer the question, “Why do you need a scholarship to attend the RNA Conference?” Common threads run through the responses, including these:
A typical scholarship award ranges from $350 for a registration waiver to $1,200, which covers registration, a shared hotel room and partial travel support. Donations made to Religion News Foundation's RNA Conference Scholarship Fund in support of the $70-for-70 campaign are tax-deductible. We do ask for your patience as we transition donor platforms over the next few months. Donations can currently be made at RNA.org/Donate, and will soon be available via GiveGab. The campaign will continue through the end of the year.
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